Nepali Numbers (१–१००) and how to read them

Nepali uses the Devanagari script for its numerals. The ten digits are ० (0), १ (1), २ (2), ३ (3), ४ (4), ५ (5), ६ (6), ७ (7), ८ (8) and ९ (9) — they look like a different alphabet but work exactly like the 0–9 you already know. Once you memorise these ten shapes, every Nepali number is just a combination of them: १० is ten, २५ is twenty-five, and ९९ is ninety-nine.

Counting from one to ten is the foundation: एक (one), दुई (two), तीन (three), चार (four), पाँच (five), छ (six), सात (seven), आठ (eight), नौ (nine), दस (ten). Numbers eleven and above build on these roots — एघार (11), बाह्र (12), तेह्र (13), चौध (14) — then the teens continue as पन्ध्र (15), सोह्र (16), सत्र (17), अठार (18) and उन्नाइस (19), before twenty (बीस).

Tens follow a clear pattern: twenty is बीस, thirty is तीस, forty is चालीस, fifty is पचास, sixty is साठी, seventy is सत्तरी, eighty is असी, and ninety is नब्बे. To compose a number like ४५ (45), you just say 'चालीस' then 'पाँच' — चालीस पाँच. Nepali expresses the same order as English: tens first, then units.

Big amounts, however, skip the familiar 'million' grouping. Instead of thousands → lakhs → millions, Nepali counts in the South Asian system: 1 lakh is १,००,००० (one hundred thousand), and 100 lakhs makes 1 crore (१,००,००,००० — ten million). That is why a property worth करोड (crore) is easy to multiply — and why prices and government budgets are often quoted in these units.

A useful daily-life example: a litre of milk might cost ८० rupees (असी रुपैयाँ), a phone २५,००० rupees (twenty-five thousand), and a house १ करोड or more. Read numbers with the Devanagari script everywhere — from bus numbers and calendar dates to prices and phone numbers — so a little practice pays off fast.